


Heart in a Home

by Rangerskirt



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: AI Connor, AI's, Alternate Universe, Android Connor, Angst, Bonding, Connor Deserves Happiness, Cop Hank, Crime, Don't need to see to read, Drama, Experiments, Family, Friendship, Gen, Happy Ending, He's an AI but also has an alternate android body, Kidnapping, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, TAU AU, Unless you wear shipper goggles, cole is alive, platonic, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-08 19:50:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15937103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rangerskirt/pseuds/Rangerskirt
Summary: Hank's son has been missing for over a year, missing he keeps reminding himself NOT dead like everyone at the precinct keeps trying to insist. After receiving a mysterious letter about Cole and saying not to involve other police Hank reluctantly follows the lead and is captured. Waking in a high tech basement full of secrets, including the odd AI running the place that calls himself Connor.------Or where Hank gets taken captive while looking for his son, he'll discover where Cole has been missing for the last year and uncover a lot of other secrets. While being held in the super tech basement of an odd scientist he meets the houses learning and prototype AI program named Connor. (They bond, obviously)(Connor does have an android body but is in AI mode a lot)





	Heart in a Home

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is a universe based off the movie on Netflix called TAU. Highly recommend if you like android/ai stuff, I thought the relationship between that movies ai and main character was amazing. It really made me want to write in DBH form.
> 
> (Also sorry Kamski, I really like you as a character but I made you a villain in this.)

Detroit Michigan has the highest crime rate of any US city, Hank knows it well he's not only been born and raised here but he is a Lieutenant on the police force, he sees ample crime every day on the job. Still, people never think that one of those people on the news could be them one day, Hank never thought it would be his son that went missing on October 11, 2035 while at a park with his babysitter.

That was nine months ago. Hank had almost strangled the babysitter in his immediate grief and proceeded to spend every waking minute using his police resources to try and track down anything he could on his son. There were other children missing under the same circumstances, he'd found four others to be exact, named Alice, North, Josh, and Simon, lastly of course being Cole himself.

All were taking in the late evening while out with either a babysitter or guardian, all were part of families that consisted of only a single parent with no extended family just as Hank's home was. Whoever was watching the kid were hit in the back of the head, not enough to knock them out for long just a few minutes and when they woke the child would be gone. No signs of visible struggles, no evidence left behind, nothing caught on camera, no leads...The kids were all between the ages of 8-12, no distinction between boys or girls or any physical features, they were all relatively good kids with no record of hard problems. The worst was little North who had punched a bully at school and been forced to apologize a few days later.

Needless to say Hank had interviewed and pestered everyone even remotely involved several times, young Alice's mother and father indulged him the most and were the most understanding. Kara and Luther were their names, they weren't fairing much better than Hank with the loss of their child even if it had been more than two years since Alice's disappearance. She has been taken first, then Simon, Josh, North, and Cole last, one child about every six months.

Hank's police work faltered heavily, his drinking and self-issues increased, all to the point where six months after Cole was taken his good friend and superior at the police force Jeffrey Fowler was forced to put him on temporary leave. Actually it was more like being fired with the opportunity to retake a position at the precinct if Hank was ever able to get himself back together. With no other leads to take on Hank gave up and into his depression, living on savings to drink himself into the ground at every opportunity, his life had become a blur within such a short time without Cole there to keep his heart above drowning in a dark pit.

It's mid-July and temperatures are beginning to scorch into the mid-nineties despite that several weeks ago it had been a lovely cool sixty degrees. He picks up the mail from his mailbox for the first time in a week and starts tossing one junk letter after the other into his garbage, junk, junk, junk, bill-already paid, junk, and then he sees it. A plain white envelope with his name and address inked in the corner, it looks like it should be handwriting but the letters are so perfect Hank is sure that it has to be printed or stamped on somehow. His curiosity peeks so he tears it open.

There is a single white page folded unevenly inside, across the crumpled page is something that makes Hank's heart plummet into the ground. It's a drawing done in several colors of crayon, himself, Cole and Sumo-their dog, all standing together. Hank's portrait is smiling but Cole's isn't, he looks sad and is crying, underneath the picture in childish letters there's written _help me daddy_. Next to it in much smaller and neater writing is an address with a time and date stamped on and an ominous _involve the police and you'll never see him again_ but no other information.

His veins go cold all in a matter of milliseconds and his throat dry but there's only one choice in his mind. He has to take the chance, if he dies then so be it being without his son feels like he's been dying slowly anyway so it would just put him out of his misery. The date and time come, Hank doesn't tell anyone but leaves the envelope and paper in an easy to find place on his bed and hires one of the neighborhood kids to take care of Sumo for the weekend so that if he doesn't end up coming home the kid will notice and tell someone. Gun is on his hip, phone is in his pocket ready to dial the cops or 911 but somehow he knows that neither will help.

If this person was smart and clever enough to kidnap five kids without giving the police even a hint of where to look for them Hank wasn't sure having a gun and phone would help him in much of a regard. Likely place to get kidnapped, an old parking garage that's completely empty at ten at night on a weekend, no one is on this side of town they'd rather be uptown shopping or out having fun.

Hank doesn't remember getting out of his car, all he knows is that he's suddenly waking up. He's on a cold concrete floor unrestrained other than something he would relate to a Hannibal Lecter mask plastered over the lower half of his face so that even if he manages to speak against it the sound will be heavily muffled and garbled. Drowsily he pushes himself up and pulls at the stiff straps but find them much stronger than he expected, he wasn't going to be pulling it off he would have to cut it somehow.

As his senses slowly return Hank hisses to himself and clamps a hand over the back of his neck, he can feel something small, square, and artificial under his skin and a surgical wound closed like it's been implanted. His first instinct is to tear it out of his body, but he stops, he has no idea what it is or if it could cause damage yanking it out, so for now he leaves it be.

"You're awake." a male voice calls from the other side of the cells bars, walking over near them Hank grunts and glares at the young man standing before him. So this is the asshole who has kidnapped kids and now himself, he looks comfortable and casual wearing just a fuzzy robe. "Pleasure to meet you my name is Elijah Kamski." Doesn't sound familiar, anger bubbles up and Hank grabs the bars like an animal to try and grab Kamski through them. "Oh I wouldn't-"

He shouldn't have, of course the bars were lined with electricity. It burns his hands and Hank cries out loudly, shaking both stinging hands and holding himself back so that he doesn't kick the bars as well. "I tried to warn you. Lieutenant Hank Anderson, I know I know you must be very angry at me right now but you'll be happy. I want to tell you that your son Cole is alive, he's here but you can't see him."

That catches his attention, for probably the first time ever in his life Hank becomes obedient and is silent, listening attentively. His son is alive. His son is _alive_.

"Good, that got your attention. I won't be telling you much for obvious reasons but what I will tell you is that I need to study your brain waves, that is what the little device in your neck does. If you cooperate with my little tests for the next two weeks I give you my word that you can see your son again." the man promised making constant eye contact.

He could see Cole again but that didn't mean Kamski was going to let either or both of them go and risk getting arrested, still two weeks was enough time for Hank to learn the layout of this area and device a plan to get himself and Cole out. If he was lucky maybe even the police would find a way to track him down and come to the rescue in the end, the odds weren't great but there would be worse. Hank nods and it makes Kamski's smile turn into a full-blown grin.

The man clasps his hands together, "Wonderful! Obviously I don't trust you so I have a constant babysitter for you, it's still late so I'll let you rest in here tonight and tomorrow we will begin the tests." Even though his heart felt like it was racing a million miles a minute Hank's mind was hazy and tired from a combination of whatever Kamski had knocked him out with, the small surgery in his neck, and hope that this man was telling the truth about Cole being alive. He slept better that night than he had in almost ten months and without the aid of alcohol.

Early the next morning Hank was woken up by Kamski entering his cell and removing the face mask, it felt like he could finally breathe properly again. "This way." Where he had been looked like a dungeon but the very next area over through a door was a gorgeous and high tech looking basement. A living room, bathroom, kitchen with a dining area, and several rooms that were closed and locked that seemed to be Kamski's experimentation rooms. A small stairway set in the corner that was blocked by a heavy glass, a handprint scanner guarding the only exit.

"Now today I'll start you off on simple puzzles so that we can ease you into-" Kamski had started to monologue with excitement lacing his voice, until Hank grabbed his shoulder and punched him in the nose. He could feel the bones crunch and break under his fist then he slammed the bastard into the nearest wall and punched again, and again. "Connor!" the man screamed and kicked Hank in the stomach, making him stumble backward.

"You son of a bitch you think I'm just going to comply after you took my son from me!" rage-filled Hank to the brim and he stepped to charge Kamski, until the familiar cold metal tip of a gun pressed to his temple out of nowhere. From his peripheral vision Hank saw a young man with neat brown hair and matching eyes, wearing a perfectly tailored suit and....an electronic ring circling on his temple. "Please don't make any further movements Lieutenant I'd rather not have to shoot you in the leg."

Raising his hands the older man stepped back and spat out, "Who the fuck are you?"

"Your babysitter..." Kamski coughed and wiped blood from his nose and mouth with his pure white sleeve dirtying it. Snapping his fingers he gestured for Connor to help him, which he did obediently help Kamski to his feet never taking his eyes or the gun off of Hank. "This is Connor, my learning AI who controls this whole basement. Normally he's just in his Control Mode in the walls but as you can see he also has an android body he can use to neutralize or stun you as needed."

Well this was going to be a problem. "A plastic prick huh..." Androids weren't unheard of but they weren't common, scientists had been working on making androids a commercial product for nearly a decade now. In the lead with their research was the big company CyberLife who promised by 2037 androids would be a household and workheld item used for everything, they didn't release a lot of information about what they were working on and it wasn't as if Hank kept up with that junk.

Kamski steadies himself and uses his fresh sleeve to blot his nose once more, "Connor make sure our _Subject 6_ stays where he is allowed, doesn't try anything sketchy, and does the tests I've left...now I have to go take another hot shower and change my clothes since I have blood all over me." Kamski grits out before going up the steps in the corner, door locking behind him with a soft beep.

The android lowers his gun and with a blank face says, "I will return to Control Mode and then we must begin the daily tasks Subject 6." he, at least it looks like a he, walks over and stands in a perfectly sized glass pod that locks him in and the body goes still, eyes closed. The pure white walls of the underground living space start to glow with an artificial light like a smart screen.

On the wall nearest to Hank a blue triangle appeared, large and ominous like it was staring at Hank, then Connor's voice sounded from it. "Here is your first puzzle Subject 6, begin." On the wall appeared a puzzle, like one of those games someone would give a kid to keep their brains thinking through summer vacation. "Don't fucking call me that."

"Begin." it demanded again, "Subject 6 begin your task, I don't wish to be forced to use pain to make you comply."

"I will if you answer me one question." the machine was silent, waiting. "Cole Anderson, is he here and is he alive?"

"There is no one here under that name. Subjects number 1-6 reside here with me, Elijah resides in the home above me." So there was a house above this basement, good to know. "Subject 5, is he a nine-year-old boy with brown hair, blue eyes?"

"That is correct."

"Subject 1 is an eight-year-old girl with brown hair and eyes, Subject 2 a ten-year-old girl with amber blond hair brown eyes, Subject 3 a twelve-year-old african american boy, Subject 4 an eight-year-old boy with blond hair and blue eyes?" his voice is cold and grumbled, this damn machine didn't see them as kids, he just saw them as things.

"That is correct. How do you know what the other subjects look like Subject 6?"

"Because they're missing you hunk of metal!" he yells at the room.

"They are not missing, they are here."

"Fuck this, fuck you! Show me that puzzle I'll fucking do it I'm done talking to you!" Hank slams his hand against the wall and starts to drag his finger to solve the simple puzzle, it finishes then flashes to another. He flies through the tests, working on them for three hours before Connor stops showing them. "You are now finished with your daily tasks Subject 6, you are free to wander about the home rooms here. There is a couch for sleeping, a kitchen I can prepare food for you, a bathroom-"

"Shut it." he grunts, "I can figure shit out like that on my own." Hank takes his own look around, registering everything in his head for possible escape options. Living room has a couch and basic amenities but nothing heavy he can use as a weapon, even the lamps are attached into the ground and probably controlled by the AI. Bathroom has been emptied of everything but shampoo, soap, and a single towel. The kitchen would be the most promising, so Hank is frustrated to find that it is locked down tight, he can see all of the utensils in the clear drawers but everything is shut in electronically locked cabinets like everything else.

He was going to have to rethink this escape plan but one thing was for certain, he had no regrets, Cole was alive and he was here within reach.

///---///

For a kidnapping this wasn't the worst situation Hank could be in, he was given the basic human decency of food, showers, and extra clothes. Not that any of those things made Hank trust Kamski or his supercomputer babysitter anymore than he had on his first hour down here.

Two days had passed since then, he'd been mostly obedient doing his daily tasks of puzzles while being snippy towards the AI. On the morning of the third day he was greeted like all the previous ones, "Good morning Subject 6, I have prepared breakfast for you and afterward there are twelve tests to be completed."

Pancakes for breakfast, again, and to be eaten with a spoon that he would be expected to wash and put away after use so that he couldn't use it as a weapon or break anything in the underground compound. Hank had learned not to mess with Connor when it came to putting the spoon back, yesterday he had taken it and managed to pry screws out of the large vent in the living quarters only to have Connors android body throw him across the room onto the couch before he could escape.

To his surprise Connor had not mentioned the incident to Kamski.

"I'm not Subject 6, I'm _Hank_ , Lieutenant Hank Anderson." he gruffly states, it's been annoying referred to like a lab rat.

"I don't understand, what is a Hank Anderson?" it asks him back, Hank runs a hand over his face in frustration. For such a smart computer it really is quite dumb, Kamski should do something about that.

"It's my name because I'm a person, like how Kamski is a person and has a name. Get it?" he finishes his pancakes, washes the spoon and sets it in the drawer watching it close and lock afterward.

"I have a name, Connor. Does that mean I am a person also?" it asks him.

Hank snorts, "Connor, what sort of shitty acronym does that stand for?" Probably something very convoluted.

"It isn't an acronym, it is just my name. Hank Anderson, am I also a person like you and Elijah? I have a name." its voice is almost hopeful and sounds very curious and that surprises him. Thus far Connor has been very stiff speaking with him, refusing to answer any of even the most simple questions Hank asks and is completely robotic.

"Ah...yeah, yeah I guess so. Why not.." he honestly isn't sure what else to say, maybe if he plays nice with the computer it will start humoring some of his questions. "Those Subjects 1 through 5 are also people ya know?"

"They are? Are they also Hank Anderson's or Elijah's, perhaps they are also Connor's?" its peculiar tone flares again, waiting patiently for the answer ready to fully believe whatever Hank tells it.

"No they have their own names. Alice, North, Josh, Simon, and...Cole. Cole Anderson, he's my son." There's a long pause like Connor is trying to process what he's being told and figure out what it all means to him.

"Son? So you are his creator as Kamski is mine?"

"Sort of, you've got the right idea. I came here because I want to take him home." and the other kids if possible. "Maybe you could let me in to see him?"

"No one is permitted into the work rooms but Elijah. Hank Anderson please begin your daily puzzles or you will not finish before Elijah returns home." Was it just him or did Connor sound a little more gentle in his demand than he had the last few days?

"You can just call me Hank." he steps over to the wall and starts playing with his puzzle.

///---///

Hank has to give it to Connor he is pretty smart, his naivety seems to stem from the fact that he knows absolutely nothing about things outside of the house that he runs. Kamski has been very careful thus far about what information Connor receives, yesterday the AI made an offhand comment about not being permitted to read any of the books in Kamski's big library.

"Good morning Hank, today is day six of testing. Breakfast is ready and then we have a long day of tests, eighteen to be exact that Elijah would like you to complete." Connor has been calling him Hank while they're left alone for the day but reverts to calling him Subject 6 when Kamski returns in the evenings.

"Mornin Connor." he greets, pancakes again but this time they have blueberries in them and instead of water there is perfectly brewed coffee in the machine. Guess the AI really does listen to the things he's been complaining about offhandedly, Connor seems oddly wishing to please in all aspects he's allowed.

As he eats Hank sprouts an idea, "Hm...I've got an idea for today Connor, why don't we go in the library?"

"I've already told you Hank, I am not allowed to read the books."

"You aren't but that doesn't mean I can't read them _to_ you." with that loophole Hank hears a door on the other side of the room unlock and open, inviting him in. "I would like to learn more about the things you mentioned yesterday at 11:32 am called _plants_." It requests.

That's how they spend their morning, Connor is filled with questions and Hank does his best to answer them with the help of the books but he can only do so much. "I wish you knew more Hank."

"Are you calling me stupid?" it catches Hank off guard and he starts to laugh, hard. That appears to alarm Connor and his voice is urgent, "Hank are you alright!? Your heart rate is elevated and you seem to be experiencing an emergency, are you experiencing an emergency situation!?"

"Pftt!" he spurts and laughs harder, slaps his knee trying to get his laughing under control. "No, no I'm fine Connor! I'm just-shit hah! I'm just laughing!" Hank wipes his eyes after his laughs settle in his chest.

"Are you positive this isn't a serious situation Hank, I do not wish you to be unhealthy."

Awkwardly Hank pats the nearby wall as if it were Connor's shoulder to reassure the machine, "I promise I'm fine, laughing is normal and usually a good thing. I guess Kamski doesn't laugh if you've never heard it before."

"He does not." Figures. "So...Connor, since I read you books today I want you to do something for me, just answering questions kind of like I did for you." Hank pauses and when Connor doesn't dispute it he figures that's a sign to go ahead and ask. "What is Kamski working on that he has me and the kids here for, is it something to do with this thing in my neck?"

"Elijah is working on a fully functional version of me, I am a prototype of a very advanced android AI. He is studying outcomes to emotions and how to control those outcomes, the device in your neck reads your brainwave activity and turns them into algorithms that help him better understand what he needs." Connor explains without hesitation, he wouldn't have done that a few days ago.

"I see...well I guess I'd better work on the tests before Kamski gets back." he sighs. "Correct Hank."

///---///

"Good morning Hank, today is day ten of testing. Breakfast is ready and you have twenty puzzles to complete today."

"Mn, mornin Connor." he yawns and walks into the kitchen then begins to smile, "No pancakes today? Damn I was so looking forward to pancakes ten mornings in a row." sarcasm heavily threaded into his words.

"Yesterday you said you would do just about anything for sausage and eggs, but now you prefer the pancakes?" Connor was honestly confused, it was sort of cute the AI was like a little kid when it came to understanding things like sarcasm.

"I was being sarcastic, joking. This smells amazing, thanks Connor." Hank sits down to dig in, his taste buds are singing from the different palette, he'd been living off of pancakes for breakfast for over a week. Maybe that meant Connor would make him something other than leftover stew for lunch and dinner today.

"Oh. Then I'm glad." the AI sounded thrilled that Hank was pleased, "Today I'd like to learn about music if that's alright Hank?"

It was their routine now, Kamski would check up on him in the morning and leave by 6:45am, Connor would make sure he was awake and fed by 7:30am, after that they would spend a few hours just chatting and he would read some of the library books out loud, after lunch he would milk Connor for any information the AI would allow him, then came puzzle time and Kamski would return promptly by 4:30 pm.

Today Connor asked him question after question about different musicians, mostly composers from the romantic era like Brahms and Tchaikovsky. "Tch don't you listen to anything more modern?"

"Elijah has almost two hundred and fifty pieces of music in my databases but most are much older, very few are from anything close to modern." the machine answered truthfully, "I have no idea if I'd like other music."

"What's the most modern song you have then?" Hank likes his fair share of older music but not nearly as old as the ones Connor was spurting out, he preferred things from back in the 80's up to the early 2000's era when he'd been growing up and young.

"This is my most recent song listed as 1999-" instead of stating the name Connor just plays the song, immediately Hank starts laughing hard. With all of the idea that Kamski was a pretentious prick who liked music that gave the appearance of one being high class he couldn't handle listening to this fucking song. _I want it thaaat way..._

"Hank, are you alright...you're doing that laugh thing again." the AI was still unsure if it was a good thing or a bad thing even with Hank telling him multiple times that he was fine. "I'm fine, fucking hell I'm _great_! This is god damned Backstreet Boys, Kamski listens to the Backstreet Boys!"

"It is quite different than the other songs isn't it?" Connor muses, if he were able to Hank thinks that he probably would have laughed too. He shuts the song off abruptly but before the Lieutenant can open his mouth to say anything Connor says, "Hank, I very much enjoy having you here even if you don't want to be."

He's been working on teaching Connor exactly what kidnapping is and that Kamski isn't a good person, the AI is smart and Hank is sure he understands more than he's letting on. In the end he is still just a program, a machine, even if he has personality and one that Hank had grown fond of over the last week and a half. Even if his personality wants to let Hank free his programming forbids him to.

"Thanks." he almost feels guilty for what he's about to ask but Cole comes first always even if he has to use the friendly AI. "Connor I'd like you to do something for me and I want you to think about it before you say no. I'd like you to let me into the workroom, I promise I won't bring anything in, take anything out, I won't even touch anything!"

Connor did think about it, he was silent for a long minute. "No one is allowed inside but Elijah...You mustn't touch anything, five minutes." Hank hears the sound of a door unlocking out in the living space, he jumps to his feet and runs to it and lets himself in.

It looks like the stereotypical evil scientist's lab filled with a surgery table, medical supplies, chemicals, everything a crazy douche bag needs to fuck with things. In the corner is a table with electronic parts and tools and next to that are five stasis tubes, four are dim like they are shut off but the one on the end has an artificial light keeping it bright.

The kids...each tube has one of the five missing children and Cole is in the last one with the light. Hank rushes to it and puts his hand on the glass, Cole looks healthy and just like he's sleeping, there are tubes connected to the back of his neck and his wrists. "Cole!" he bangs on the glass but there is no response.

Connor's for once panicked voice echoes through the room, "Hank! You promised not to touch, you cannot touch anything or Elijah will be very upset!"

"Fuck Kamski! This is my son, let him out Connor, do it right now!" he demands and slams his fist against the tough glass. "I can't Hank, please remove yourself from the workroom before I have to do it by force!" the voice isn't harsh, Connor is worried and anxious and he just doesn't want to get in trouble for disobeying.

"Fuck you I'm not leaving him!" his eyes start to burn with tears, Cole is alive and he can see the boy's chest rising and falling as he breathes in his sleep but all Hank wants is to scoop him up and take him home. To cuddle on the couch with him and Sumo while they watch morning cartoons, to catch Cole scribbling on his bedroom wall in pen and have to snip at him but deep down think the drawings are actually very cute.

He wants those happy moments back and he wants them now. So he pounds his fist against the glass again, and again, and again as hard as he can. So hard that it's painful to his fist but there is no sign of cracking the glass no matter how many times he ignores Connor's requests for him to stop, all he ends up doing is smudging the glass.

"Hank!" this time the voice is more direct and right behind him, so he whips his head around to see Connor in his android body approaching him quickly. "Please stop you can't-!" Hank pulls his fist back and slams it into the android's face, he hears a crack but the pain that flares in his knuckles tell him that he's probably just broken his fingers.

Connor doesn't retaliate like Hank expects, as he's seen before the machine has the strength to pick him up easily with just one arm and throw him across the room. Instead there are hands that ease onto his shoulders, a touch that can only be described as tender and such a kind feeling that it sends Hank slowly sinking down to his knees and further down until he's sitting on the floor. Tears begin spilling down his face feeling hot against his cheeks. "I want to go home with him.."

The machine follows suit, still touching his shoulders. "I'm sorry...Hank, are you having an emergency?" Connor's voice was so soft and gentle, he looks at the machine through his tear-blurred eyes and stifles a small sob trying to escape his throat. "Yes."

"How do I help?" Connor leans closer and tightens his grip on the Lieutenant's shoulders. "Please I'll do anything within my power to make this bett-oh." he stops completely when Hank pulls him tight into a hug, crying into his perfectly pressed dress shirt.

With a little hesitation Connor tries to comfort Hank and touches his fingertips to the man's back and then slowly presses his hands flat there and tightens his grip to return the hug properly. "I don't wish you any pain, you've been extremely kind to me."

The hug was enough to settle hank's swarming mind for a little while, getting his sobs out in the comfort of someone, or he guessed technically some _thing_ , he trusted well enough felt good. It was only a minute or two later that he ends up pulling away and using his sleeves to roughly wipe his eyes making them even redder than they were from the crying.

Connor leans his head to the side and studies Hank's red and puffy eyes, flushed cheeks and heavy breathing. "I...I will be back in a moment, I'll grab you some tissue and a cloth to wipe your face. Please remain right here and try to settle down." Just like that he's gone from the room in a run.

A smile crept over Hank's face, a tiny one, and he mutters "Weird computer..." Longingly he looks up at Cole sleeping away in his tube, "Don't worry kiddo, I'll get you out of here. I promise."

He hears footsteps return but they aren't the same sounding as Connor's so Hank whips his head around to meet the eyes of Elijah Kamski, "Uhh...I-" about to spout out a lie of some sort Connor came strolling over with the things in his hands he'd mentioned before but drops them. "Elijah..." Connor looks so human when he's scared, and oh shit does he look scared seeing his master home and realizing his brilliant AI has gone against his orders.

"Connor, get Subject 6 out of my lab and then we need to have a _talk_." Elijah is calm but in the most terrifying way, Hank can hear the seethe behind his voice, his android silently nods and helps Hank to his feet and out to the couch in the living quarters. "Please I can explain Elijah, it's not what it looks like." Connor says nervously as his creator pulls out a small remote with just a few small buttons. "Please don't..." he whimpers.

"Let's review Connor, let's talk about what rules you've broken. Subject 6 was to complete his tasks first before doing anything, he has not, no one is to enter my laboratory and yet Subject 6 has, oh yes and let's not forget about the smudges all over the glass in the lab. Three broken rules so that will be three days worth." With his thumb hovering over the largest button on the remote Kamski jabs his finger down hard and holds the button.

"Please don-Ah!" Connor screams in pain and goes straight down to his knees and holds his head, he curls up and continues struggling with noises. This goes on for a long minute and a half which doesn't sound long unless you're living in each of those seconds watching someone, or being that person, suffer terribly.

"Hey, hey knock it the fuck off!" Hank yells just as Kamski releases the button and Connor's body stands up and walks back to where it charges so that the AI can go back into his Control Mode in the smart walls. "If I catch you in there again, there will be consequences. This is your only warning." Then the man promptly retrieves a few papers and a pair of glasses he needed before leaving back to work as if he hadn't just tortured something.

After a good fifteen minutes of silence in the basement the detective finally calls, "Connor, hey you there!?" One of the walls lights up signaling that the other is indeed around. "Yes Hank, I'm here."

"Are you....uh, alright? What the hell did he do to you?"

"To punish me Elijah erases my memories. It is very painful to endure."

It didn't sound so bad to Hank, he would love to get rid of some of his memories. But for something like an AI that all he had were memories to enjoy, no friends or life, it must be hard for Connor to go through that. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to get in trouble because of me." He wouldn't change anything either way, he needed to see Cole.

"I am fine, I'm just a machine after all." so Connor says but Hank can hear the way his voice is drained compared to how excited he gets when they read books together, Connor is a machine but he's also so much more than that. "He won't delete anything related to you since you are also important to his research, for that I"m grateful. I don't want to forget you Hank."

"Hey now, you won't." he makes a small promise and touches a nearby wall, it lights up around his hand. It's the equivalent of gently patting or rubbing Connor's shoulder or back. "I'll do my puzzles so you don't get in more trouble, why don't you rest a little bit?"

///---///

The eleventh and twelfth day went by much like the last few but Hank kept a bit quieter, he had to really think of a way to get Cole out of here before day fourteen. He wasn't sure exactly what would happen but Kamski sure as well wasn't going to just release them back into the world to turn him into the cops, and day fourteen was some deadline the man had to make out of whatever was in Hank's neck.

He'd probably kill them both, and Connor would just stand back and watch as his master did so.

On that thirteenth day he was really feeling the pressure, he'd woken up extremely early with lack of sleep and finished his puzzles so he didn't have to worry about it. What could he do? This place was locked down tight because of Connor, anything Hank was capable of breaking wouldn't get him anywhere fast without the AI catching and stunning him. All he could count on was hoping to change Connor's mind into helping him break out.

So he brought it up as soon as Kamski left for the day, also looking stressed out about everything much like Hank was. With an easy tone Connor says, "I cannot Hank, I'm sorry but I've already told you that I can't let you out."

"So...so you're just going to let us die here, like those other kids dead in those tubes? Fuck you're disgusting, you're just letting kids die down here and not doing a single thing about it!" he accuses. "In a way _you're_ killing them!"

"What?" Connor sounds confused, "I don't understand what dying is." That's right, they hadn't gotten to that part of any of their book reading talks, they talked about life but never about death or the end of things."Dying, death, killing, Elijah has blocked and removed these definitions from my dictionary."

"Death, killed, the end, you've....fuck-you've _erased_ them Connor!" Hank yells at the top of his lungs into the room.

"I...I erased them?...No, no that's not right, Elijah never said that when I shut down the pods. I never meant to erase them!" his voice was panicked and desperate, "I'll fix this, I promise! I'll restore them, boot up the pods again and everything will be fine!" The detective could hear in the program's voice that even Connor didn't believe that would help, he'd begun to realize just how different and finite humans were compared to machines.

Connor starts to repeat himself, panicking and the lights flicker. Quickly Hank touches the nearest wall to him, "Connor! Connor stop it's okay! It's okay you didn't know!" All of his anger from moments ago has drained seeing once again how naive his little robot friend is about everything, he's seen it before so he shouldn't be surprised but it caught him off guard once again.

"No it isn't fine, none of this is fine if I erased them Hank. They're small!" Small was Connor's equivalent of calling them kids or young, "They're so small and I killed them!"

"Shh, shh I know, I know you shut off the pods but you didn't know." Hank mutters gently towards the wall and brushes his thumb over the solid white smart paint. "Elijah is the one who killed them, he gave you the order, why do you think he deleted those words from your dictionary?"

"You...you are right Hank." Connor says back just as softly, "I'm going to let you both out."

"Both, so you're going to wake Cole up?" Hank's voice perks up with excitement.

"Yes, but the waking process takes time if done properly so it won't harm Cole. I will start it now but it won't finish for eighteen hours." That would bring the time to right about 6:15 am, Kamski would be around and probably wanting to finish up his experiment. It was a close call but all that Hank has to get them out of here.

"Thank you, seriously thank you Connor. You don't know how much that means to me, thank you."

///---///

He's holding Cole in his arms again, feeling warm and a solid weight in his grip as the boy sleeps away still exhausted from the process as Connor told him he would be for several hours to half a day.

Connor is in his android form and stands behind Hank working on removing the mechanical piece from the man's neck carefully, "Removing this to gain all of the information Elijah wants would have killed you so I'm removing is safety...he will be angry but at least you will be alright."

"I don't understand why he wanted me in the first place, he kidnaps kids and suddenly wants an old man?" None of the children's parents had gone missing, Hank was the first.

"Small humans have the range of emotions Elijah was originally looking at studying but it wasn't enough, your brain was in the perfect state of almost constant stress and emotional despair that he needed to finish collecting what he needs."

"Oh...so that's why you decided to let us go when I explained what death means."

"Correct."

They were both expecting it but Kamski walks down from the stairs at some point and sees Hank carrying his son carefully, Connor in his android body and doing nothing about the problem and immediately puts together what's happening. "You traitor, I created you from scratch...without me you would be nothing but you choose this useless human over me!"

"Hank is not useless!" the android clenches his fists and glares at his creator with daggers, "He's a good man, kind and caring, he loves his son and would risk his life to come to bring him home. You would never have done anything even remotely similar for me. He's taught me many things while being here."

"They're all lies, don't you see that I've been protecting you Connor, from people like Lieutenant Anderson who will lie and do anything to get what they want." Kamski lies, and he lies well but Connor is smart and shakes his head. "No, you're the one lying to me, besides I've made up my mind. I'm letting them go."

"I won't let you, restrain them Connor." The scientist threatens and pulls out his remote, thumb hovering over the button as a threat. "No matter how much pain you put me through I won't, you'll have to erase all of my memories which will take you approximately eleven minutes." Long enough for Hank to get outside and away.

Kamski presses the button and Connor slams down to his knees and screams but in a choked voice gets out, "Go...Hank! Now!" Hank runs, he runs so fast out the door that Connor opens for him and out the front door of the beautiful mansion upstairs. His feet his grass and sees that they aren't in Detroit anymore, at least not in the immediate city but out somewhere on the countryside where there are no other houses in sight, just hills and trees with a big city in the distant view.

Hank runs to the tree line but then his feet stop automatically as he breathes hard, "I...forgive me Cole, but I can't just leave him." He nestles the boy down behind a tree for cover and blankets him with his thick coat, hopefully he doesn't wake up until he returns. "I'll be right back, I love you so much." Then sprints back to the house.

He dials 911 and gives them an estimate of his location, hopefully they can figure it out and he leaves the phone off the hook in case they do a signal search of the phone call. Next he picks up a big sharp knife and slowly stalks down the basement stairs where he can still hear Connor let out noises of pain but they're dulled now. Kamski is muttering occasional obscenities towards his AI, this is it. Hank has to make the choice, he wants to take down the asshole who took his son but does he just knock him out or use the knife?

Deciding quickly Hank rushes the man from behind, burying his knife into a vital area of Kamski's back and watching him go down in a fountain of blood, remote scattering on the floor. "A-Ah...you bastard..."

"You're the bastard." the older man whispers and steps to Connor's side who is quiet now but still on the ground. "You okay Con?"

"Hank...you came back?" the android lifts his head, there are tear tracks down Connor's face something Hank didn't know the body had been equipped to simulate but it breaks his heart nonetheless. "What about Cole?"

"Cole is fine, but I couldn't just leave you after you risked yourself to set us free. Which brings me to an important question, is this body able to leave the house?" he touches Connor's shoulders after using his sleeve to wipe some tears from the android's freckled face.

"It is self-sustaining other than basic maintenance."

"Then how would you feel about coming to live with me? If we leave now the cops won't find us, no one will try to take you away or experiment on you ever again." just suggesting it brings a smile to Hank's face, and one to Connor's too.

"Come live with you, and Cole, and...and Sumo?" Connor tilts his head. "I would like very much to pet your dog."

With a small laugh the detective nods and helps the other to his feet, up the stairs and to the front door. "You can pet him all you want, promise." That was two promises Hank had made recently, one to his son, and one to Connor, he was determined to make both come true.

They were slow, Connor's body is lagging from the recent pain of lost memories and trying to rearrange his mental pieces back into place. Luckily Hank had shown up before any of their memories were erased, "That's the sun? It's brighter than I thought it would be. You were right, it's beautiful."

"You should see it at sunrise and sunset, oh and you'll really like the moon too."

Returning to Cole's side, who is still sleeping away peacefully, Hank scoops him up once more. "Are you okay to walk on your own?" he'd been crutching Connor on and off on the walk over to the treeline. "Yes, I will be slow but okay thank you."

They were all prisoners in that basement, but they're free now.

"We'll take our time, now let's get us all home."

"Home?...That sounds very nice." Connor agrees.


End file.
